There are quite a few deserving MVP candidates around the NFL this season, from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, to even Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
FS1’s Craig Carton tried to introduce a new name into that discussion on Friday morning when he made the hilariously wild argument that there is not a more deserving MVP candidate in the NFL this season than …. New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones?
Watch and listen.
This is the good stuff. This is what sports talk radio and TV talk shows are all about. Just unapologetically wild takes to get the masses talking.
To be fair to Jones, he is having a very good year.
He has already thrown for over 3,000 yards, he has played relatively mistake-free football with only five interceptions on 448 pass attempts (the lowest interception percentage in the NFL), and he is quietly one of the most effective running quarterbacks in the league having already topped 617 yards on the ground. There is a real chance he finishes with over 700 rushing yards and at least five rushing touchdowns this season.
All of that has helped put the Giants in a position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and only the second time since the 2012 season.
He has been very, very good. But he is not NFL MVP good. Certainly not “most deserving” NFL MVP good, either.
Carton’s argument centers around the logic of “well, how many games would the Giants win without Daniel Jones?”
The answer to that question depends on who you are replacing him with. If you are replacing him with a bottom-level quarterback like Zach Wilson or current back Tyrod Taylor, they might only have four or five wins and would probably miss the playoffs.
But if you put, say, Mahomes on the Giants, then how many wins would they have?
Probably a lot more.
Conversely, if you put Jones on the Chiefs, how many wins would they have?
Probably a lot less than 13 or 14 wins they are probably going to end up with this season.
That, my friends, is why somebody like Mahomes, and not Jones, is the NFL MVP.
